Shropshire Star

The New Saints’ bid against FAW is overruled

The New Saints have failed in their bid to overturn the curtailment of the Cymru Premier season, the High Court has ruled.

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The Oswestry club took legal action after the FA Wales elected to end its domestic leagues due to the coronavirus, placing clubs in an unweighted points-per-game format.

That meant Scott Ruscoe’s Saints finished second, missing out on a ninth successive top-flight title, with Connah’s Quay Nomads crowned champions.

The FAW welcomed the verdict from Judge Mr Justice Marcus Smith. In a statement they said: “There were no easy solutions for the board of directors in these exceptional circumstances and their decisions were made in good faith and not based on the interests of any particular club, but the wider interests of the football community.”

TNS argued that the method used to place teams did not adhere to ‘sporting merit’.

Owner Mike Harris had said it would have been fairer to decide the placings when the Cymru Premier split earlier in the season, after all teams had played each other, at which point the Saints would have been champions.

A TNS statement read: “The New Saints FC are extremely disappointed with the outcome and are considering an appeal, after Judge Mr Justice Marcus Smith dismissed The New Saints claim that the FAW curtailed the Cymru Premier prematurely, using an unweighted points per game method in place of a more traditional sporting merit outcome.”